Machine for forming articles from sheet material



Nov. 25, 1930. B. M. FINE 1,782,777

MACHINE FOR FORMING ARTICLES F1707 SHEET MATERIAL Filed Jan. 19,1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ii p515- 137 mfiammwmll,

B. M. FINE Nov. 25, 1930. 1,782,777 MACHINE FOR FORMING ARTICLES FROM SHEET MATERIAL 2 Sheefs-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 19, 1927 ll IHIIHI] Patented Nov. 25, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BERNARD M. FINE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO SANITARY PRODUCTS CORPORATION OF AMERICA, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A

CORPORATION OF VIRGINIA MACHINE FOR FORMING ARTICLES FROM SHEET MATERIAL Application filed January 19, 1927- ?Serial No. 162,083.

This invention relates to mechanism for producing blanks from sheet material and forming the same into articles, and especial- 1y, although not exclusively, to mechanism for forming plates or trays from paper or fiber stock. The invention has for its general object the rapid and automatic quantity production of articles of this character from sheet material with a minimum waste of stock. To this end, the invention contemplates the provision of a machine which, in its entirety, preferably includes means for feeding a web of sheet material and devices for slitting the web longitudinally and for cutting it crosswise to divide the same into substantially rectangular blanks, together with means, operating concurrently with said devices, for forming said blanks into articles, means being also preferably provided for rounding the corners of the blanks so formed in accordance with the desired shape of the finished articles.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention, together with means whereby the latter may be carried into eifect, will best be understood from the following description of a preferred form thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It will be understood, however, that the particular construction described and shown has been chosen for purposes of exemplification merely, and that the invention, as defined by the claims hereunto appended, may be otherwise embodied without departure from the spirit and scope thereof.

In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section, taken substantially on the line 11, Fig. 4, of mechanism embodying the invention, showing the parts in the positions assumed thereby just prior to the cross-cutting operation.

Fig. 2 is a similar section, taken substantially on .the line 22, Fig. 4:, illustrating the cross-cutting operation.

Fig. 3 is a similar sectional View, taken on the same plane as Fig. 1, illustrating the forming operation.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the line 4-4, Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation on a reduced scale of the press elements, ram operating means, and intermittent feeding mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of a portion of the die plate.

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic plan view of portion of the web, illustrating the manner in which the latter is out or divided into blanks.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail plan View of a finished plate or tray.

Fig. 9 is a vertical section of said plate or tray.

1n Fig. 1 there is shown at 15 the bed, and at 16 the ram, of a press of any suitable type. The operating mechanism and other parts of the press may be of any well-known type and specifically form no part of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 5, however, the

ram.'16 is guided in ways 14 on the frame 13 and is connected with an eccentric stra 12 surrounding an eccentric 11 on a main s aft 9 journalled in the frame 13. Supported on the bed 15 is a die block 17 carrying a die 18 having suitably shaped openings 19 therethrough and with which cooperate complementary forming dies or plungers 20 carried by an upper die block 21 secured to the ram 16.

J ournalled in suitable supports 22 rising from the bed 15 are upper and lower feed rollers 23 and 24 connected at their ends for rotation in unison in opposite directions by gears 25. The shaft of the lower feed roller 24 is connected by a one-way'clutch 26 (see Fig. 5) with a pinion 27 which cooperates with a rack 28 connected with a crank 8 on the main shaft 9, the arrangement being such that when the ram rises the feed rollers will be actuated to feed a web W of paper stock or other sheet material into the machine and between the dies, and when said ram descends said feed rollers will remain at rest. Associated with the rollers 23 and 24 are cooperating cutting disks 29 and 30 adapted to slit the Web longitudinally as it is fed.

After leaving the feed rollers, the web W passes, in the direction of the arrow on Fig. 1, over a yieldingly mounted stripper plate 31 and thence over a die plate 32 secured as by screws 33 to the upper face of the die 18.

' The stripper plate is depressed when the ram descends by strikers 310 carried by and depending from said ram. The die plate 32 is formed with openings 36 corresponding in shape and size and registering with the openin s 19 in the die 18.

located between the stripper plate 31 and the die plate 32 are means or cross-cutting the web W, said means, as shown, including a shear blade or blades 37 secured, as 'by screws 38, to theupper die block 21 and c0- operating with a shear blade or blades 39 secured to the forward edge of the die 18, the plane of the cutting edges of-said shear blades being substantially coincident with the forward edge of the die plate 32.

It will be seen, particularly by reference to Fig. 7, that when the web W is fed in the direction of the arrow on said figure by the feed rollers 23 and 24, it will be simultaneously slit longitudinally by the cutters 29 and 30, as shown at s, to divide said web into strips S, and that said web is subsequently cross-cut by the cutters 37 and 39, as shown at a, to divide the strips S into individual substantially rectangular blanks B. While the entire web may thus be divided into blanks without waste, cutters 23 and 24 are preferably provided at the ends of the feed rolls to trim off the extreme marginal portions m of the strip, which marginal po tions are frequently soiled or marred, by additional longitudinal slits 8. Also, in accordance with the desired shape of the finished articles, as hereinafter described, the corners of the blanks B are preferably cut off or rounded as indicated at a: and ac. To this end, there are preferably associated with the cross-cutting blade or blades 37, corner cutters 40 carried by shanks 45 secured, as by screws 46, to the upper die block 21. The corner cutters are received in aligned openings or notches 41 and 42 in the die plate 32 and die 18, respectively, and are formed with cutting edges which cooperate with cutting edges 43 formed on the notches 41 to shear the stock, said cutting edges having configurations conforming to the desired shape of the corners of the blanks. The corner cutters 40 operate to round the corners an of the blanks immediately adjacent the cross-cut a at the time the latter is formed. The opposite corners m at the free ends of the strips S are simultaneously rounded by similar corner cutters 44 carried by shanks 47 secured, as by screws 48, to the die block 21, said cutters 44 operating in openings 49 and 50 in the die plate 32 and die 18 and having shearing edges which cooperate with the edges 51 of the openings in the die plate in the same manner as the corner cutters 40.

It will be understood that the cooperating dies 18 and 20 are located between the crosscutters 37 and corner-cutters 40, on the one hand, and the corner-cutters 44, on the other, and that the die openings 19 and plungers 20 correspond in number and arrangement to the strips S, so that when the web W is cross-cut to form the blanks B and the corners m, w of said blanks simultaneously rounded by the corner-cutters, said blanks will be positioned between the dies. The parts are so arranged that the strikers 310 engage and depress the stripper plate 31, and the blanks are formed by the cutters, during the first part of the descent of the ram 16, as shown in Fig. 2. Thereafter, as the ram continues to descend, the dies cooperate to form said blanks into articles. The blanks B being substantially rectangular in shape, the dies are arranged to form substantially rectangular plates P of the form shown in Figs. 8 and 9, each of said plates being of frusto-pyramidal form and comprising a base 6 formed by the minor rectangle of the frustum, upwardly flaring sides 6, and a group of three substantially triangular folds f at each corner. Except as modified in accordance with the shape of the articles produced, the forming dies herein shown are, as to their principle of operation, of the type disclosed and claimed in a prior application, Serial No. 1,785, filed January 12, 1925, by Harry E. Ruckert and myself. The registering openings 19 and 36 in the die 18 and die plate 32 are of a size and shape corresponding to the base- I) of a finished plate and are formed with notches F at the corners corresponding to the folds f of the plate. The plunger 20 is of a size and shape substantially to fit the opening in the die 18, with the clearance. necessary to receive the stock, and is provided at its corners with triangular fins or projections F to enter the notches F in the die 18. In the forming operation, when the plunger 20 descends into the position shown in Fig. 3, the blank is forced into the opening 19, the marginal portions being turned upwardly to form the sides 6, and the resulting surplus material being forced into the notches F by the fins F to form the folds f. As the plunger continues to move downwardly, the folded blank is forced entirely through the opening 19, successively formed articles passing thence, through an opening 53 formed in the die block 17, into a stacker or race-way 54 in which said articles are received in nested relation, as more fully explained in another application filed May 13, 1927, Serial No. 191,227.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

B cutters and ram operating concurrently to 1. In a machine for forming articles from currently therewith and with said transverse blanks of sheet material, the combination with cutting means for cutting oil the corners of means for slitting a web of material longitutheblank. dinally, of means for cross-cutting said web, In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

5 said slitting and cross-cutting means cooper- BERNARD M. FINE.

70 ating to divide said web into individual blanks, and dies moving simultaneously with said cross-cutting means for forming said blanks into articles, said cross-cutting means being carried by one of said dies. 7

2. In a machine for forming blanks of sheet material, the combination with means for slitting a web of material longitudinally, of means for cross-cutting said web, said slitting means and cross-cutting means cooperating to 80 divide said web into individual substantially rectangular blanks, and means for cutting off simultaneously the four corners of each blank. 3. In'a machine for forming articles from blanks of sheet material, the combination with 8 means for slitting a Web of material longitunally, of means for cross-cutting said web, said slitting means and cross-cutting means cooperating to divide said web into individual substantially rectangular blanks, means for cutting off the corners of said blanks, and means operating concurrently with said crosscutting means and corner cutting means for forming said blanks into articles, said crossac cutting means and said corner cutting means being carried by said forming means.

4. lln a machine for forming articles from blanks of sheet material, in combination, a pair of rollers for feeding a web of material,

35 cutting disks carried by said rollers for slitting said web as it is fed to divide the same into strips, a bed over which said strips are fed, a ram movable toward and from said bed, intermittently operating means for rotating ac said rollers when said ram moves away from said bed, a cutter carried by said ram for cross-cutting said web to divide said strips into substantially rectangular individual blanks, corner cutters associated with said cross-cutter for cutting off two adjacent corno ners of each of said blanks, additional corner cutters carried by said ramand spaced from said cross-cutter for cutting oil the remaining corners of said blanks, and cooperating dies "5 carried by said bed and ram respectively, and located between said last-named corner cutters and said cross-cutter, for forming said blanks into articles, said cross cutters, corner produce said articles.

5. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a pair of relatively movable cooperating die members for shaping a blank as into a finished article, means for feeding a l web of sheet material between said members, means for cutting said web transversely concurrently with the movement of said members toward one another, and corner cutters carried it by one of said die members and operating con-- 

